Greenwood Press (This book and the next one are part of a series published by Greenwood to provide information on social issues being faced by individuals and societies around the world. There are volumes concerned with poverty and homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction, HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, women's rights, and other issues.) Culture is often thought to be an important variable in understanding human behavior. This book presents an overview of the information available about child abuse in sixteen countries. They are Australia, Canada, England, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sri Lanka, and the United States. This is across several distinct cultures and the few divergent civilizations remaining. The most salient fact to come from reading this book is that throughout human history and across all cultures yet today big people savage little people. While weeping with shame for this human tragedy, the book also shows that efforts are appearing across the world to control and diminish the abuse of children. The different countries are in vastly different stages of development and recognition of the issues but it is happening that legal, moral, and economic resources are being devoted to a broad range of efforts to protect and nourish children. Each of the chapters is a self-contained unit and can be read with profit alone or with the others. In the space permitted, the information presented is dense, an overview, but accurately done and can inform the reader about the current state of law and practice in child protection in the sixteen countries. It is recommended to any who are concerned with the purpose of advancing the cause to reduce the level and frequency of child abuse. Reviewed by Ralph Underwager, Institute for Psychological Therapies.
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